Entropy Ratchet
Temporary workarounds become permanent. The longer a gap persists, the harder it is to fix.
Temporary workarounds become permanent. The longer a governance gap persists, the harder it is to fix, because the workaround builds its own dependencies and the organisation optimises around it.
Recognition signals
- "We've always done it this way" — said about something that started as a stopgap. The workaround has been in place long enough that nobody remembers the original gap.
- The PM has been compensating for a missing role for months. What started as "I'll cover this until we hire someone" became the permanent governance model.
- A governance gap is acknowledged but "we'll fix it after go-live." The fix is always deferred to a future state that never arrives because the present state is tolerable.
- Contract management is invisible — nobody notices it's missing because the PM is covering. The absence of a dedicated function doesn't show up as a gap because the gap is filled.
- Executives are disengaged from delivery — attention entropy. The governance meetings they used to attend become optional, then sporadic, then cancelled. Their absence is compensated for by the PM escalating less.
Structural cause
Why this happens
Fixing the gap requires admitting it existed. The longer it's been compensated for, the more the organisation has optimised around the workaround. Removing the workaround means disrupting the equilibrium.
The ratchet mechanism is economic. The cost of fixing a governance gap is highest the day you discover it — you need to admit the gap, redesign the governance, fill the role, and unwind the workaround. Every day you delay, the workaround embeds deeper. People build processes around it. Dependencies form. The PM's compensation becomes load-bearing.
The cost of fixing it grows faster than the cost of tolerating it — until crisis. A vendor dispute, a PM departure, an audit finding. Then the cost inverts suddenly, and the organisation discovers it has been accumulating governance debt at compound interest.
Risk mapping
| Risk | Description |
|---|---|
| G4 | Entropy — workarounds embed over time and become load-bearing |
| G5 | Latent — governance gap invisible until crisis reveals it |
| V3 | Visibility gap — executive attention entropy reduces oversight |
Self-assessment
When to worry
- You have a governance workaround that's been "temporary" for more than three months
- The PM is compensating for a role that was never filled
- "We'll fix it after go-live" appears in your governance risk log
- Executive attendance at governance forums has declined over the last quarter
When you're OK
- Governance workarounds are tracked in a debt register with remediation timelines
- Temporary role coverage has a documented end date and transition plan
- Executive engagement is measured and managed, not assumed
Related reading
- The vendor management trap — the PM's compensation becoming the governance model
- Authority Vacuum — the gap that the Entropy Ratchet embeds
- Compliance Theatre — when workarounds get formalised as the "process"
Governance debt compounds quietly.
A programme health check catalogues which workarounds are ticking and which are tolerable — and provides remediation priorities before the next one locks in. 10fifteen — programme governance assessments.